Steve’s darts

When Steve Martin was writing ‘Roxanne’ he gave the main character a giant nose and he imagined a scene where this character comes across a bully who mocks the hero for his huge facial feature.

As a retort, Steve Martin’s character (C. D. Bales), scoffs at the insult and says something along the lines of – is that the best you can do?

C. D. Bales then challenges the bully to throw a dart at the dart board and our hero will come up with that many insults better than… ‘Hey big nose!’

And Steve Martin (whilst writing) thinks to himself – ‘What’s the highest number on a dart board? 20. Well it’s got to land on 20 doesn’t it?’

This attitude hints at a generosity and a love of challenges within Martin.

Whilst writing he’s controlling the flight of the dart.

If he was feeling lazy he could’ve landed it on 1, if he was feeling lazy but wanted to add an air of realism he could’ve gone for approximately halfway like 11, but he didn’t.

He picked the maximum.

He sought to give his audience value for money and held nothing back.

An attitude you have to appreciate as an audience member.